Psychopath
A Psychopath is a person who is incapable of sympathy or empathy and takes no responsibility for his/her actions. They are often grandiose, ''meaning they consider themselves above others. Psychopaths are remorseless, narcissistic, and may appear to be a "blank slate" when in the depths of their pathology. Traits As stated before, people of this personality disorder may display no empathy towards others and no remorse or guilt. However, they can mimic emotions almost perfectly to further their own personal agendas, are very skilled in the arts of deception, and may actually appear charming, friendly, or even likable. Some psychopaths will engage in severe antisocial behavior, such as murder (even serial or mass murder), animal cruelty, or sexual crimes. Conversely, some never do at all and the manifestation of their pathology is limited to non-criminal behavior such as promiscuity, cheating, or lying. Sociopath and Psychopath A sociopath is a person with a form of ASPD (Anti-Social Personality Disorder) that has developed based on their environment and/or surroundings, whereas psychopaths are born with psychopathic personality disorder. It is vital to acknowledge the difference between ASPD and psychopathy; ASPD is characterized by antisocial behaviors, while psychopathy is a combination of behavioral traits and interpersonal traits. Psychopaths easily meet the criteria for ASPD and psychopathy, while individuals with ASPD meet the criteria for that particular condition but not psychopathy. Sociopaths are like psychopaths in the sense that they are incapable of feeling empathy, guilt, and remorse. Unlike psychopaths, they aren't as capable of feigning emotions, and are unable to maintain social relationships and hold down a steady job. The chances of them feeling love for somebody else is also more likely than the odds of a psychopath feeling love for somebody else, although this is possible in both cases. Sociopathic serial killers are extremely disorganized and are much easier to catch than psychopathic serial killers, who are obsessively organized. Sociopaths are extremely prone to violent bursts of anger and cannot appear to be normal while psychopaths can keep their anger bottled up for excessive amounts of time and are masters at the art of deception. Sociopaths also differ from psychopaths in the sense that the former cannot plan ahead while the latter is a master at planning ahead. What is psychopath? Psychopath is a term “currently used to describe an individual who demonstrates a discernible cluster of psychological, interpersonal, and neurophysiological features that distinguish him or her from the general population. (Bartol & Bartol, 2011, p. 171)” Robert Hare, a psychologist, describe psychopaths as social predators who lure, deploy, and cruel work their way through life, leaving a wide-ranging trace of broken souls, devastated hopes and beliefs, and empty wallets. Absolutely lacking in integrity and sympathy, they inconsiderately take whatever they want, do as they please and stratify themselves, sacrilegious societal standards and expectations deprived of the least logic of guilt or regret. “The PCL describes psychopaths as being callous and showing a lack of empathy, traits which the PPI describes as “cold-heartedness’.” The criteria for dissocial personality disorder include a “callous unconcern for the feelings of others.” There are now several lines of evidence that point to the biological grounding for the uncaring nature of the psychopath. (Hirstein, 2013)” The intelligences of psychopaths remained to have fragile influences among the components of the brain’s emotional systems. These divides are accountable for the psychopath’s lack of ability to feel passions intensely. Psychopaths are also not worthy at noticing distress in the appearances of other societies. Psychopaths and sociopaths, demonstration a lack of emotion, particularly the social emotions: such as disgrace, guilt, and embarrassment. A psychopath has met revealed a wide-ranging lack in major emotional responses and a lack of guilt or dishonor. “The PCL describes psychopaths as “emotionally shallow” and showing a lack of guilt. (Hirstein, 2013)” Psychopaths are dishonorable on behalf of their lack of fear. When typical individuals put into an investigational circumstance where they do in advance that roughly painful determination will occur, such as a minor electric shock, or an aversive gravity functional to a limb, intelligence system stimulations. Normal folk’s determinations will moreover demonstration a pure skin conductance reaction produced by sweat gland activity. In psychopathic matters, on the other hand, this intellect network disclosed no movement and no skin conductance reactions emitted. Meanwhile the PCL remarks “irresponsibility” and the PPI describes psychopaths as showing “blame externalization,” for example, they blame others on behalf of the occasions that are essentially their accountability. They may possibly confess blame when enforced into a corner, nevertheless, these charges not convoyed through a sense of disgrace or remorse, and they have certainly no control to variation the sociopath’s forthcoming behavior. “The PCL describes sociopaths as possessing a “grandiose sense of self-worth.” Cleckley speaks frequently of the boastfulness of his patients. Hare (1993) describes an imprisoned sociopath who believed he was an excellent swimmer. (Hirstein, 2013)” The criteria for dissocial character embrace, a very low broadmindedness to thwarting and a low starting point for liberation of violence, as well as forcefulness. The criteria for inconsiderate character condition embrace, prickliness and belligerence, as specified by recurrent physical contests or attacks. Treatment There are currently no medicinal treatments for psychopathy, and talk therapy only serves to further the ability to mimic emotions. There is believed to be a genetic propensity in the cases of psychopathy, as the trait appears to run in families. As a possible genetic disorder, there may never be an effective treatment. It must be observed that one possible common cause of psychopathy is abuse. Diagnosis Aggressive Narcissism #Glibness/superficial charm #Grandiose sense of self-worth #Pathological lying #Cunning/manipulative #Lack of remorse or guilt #Emotionally shallow #Callous/lack of empathy #Failure to accept responsibility for own actions #Placing blame on others Social Deviance #Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom #Parasitic lifestyle #Poor behavioral control #Promiscuous sexual behavior #Lack of realistic, long-term goals #Impulsiveness #Irresponsibility #Juvenile delinquency #Early behavioral problems #Revocation of conditional release Examples On Criminal Minds * Adrian Bale * Nathan Harris * Frank Breitkopf * George Foyet * Danny Murphy * Ray Campion *Raymond Donovan and Sydney Manning *Greg Phinney *Randy Slade *Izzy Rogers *Jason Nelson *Sera Morrison Other Fiction * Norman Bates (''Psycho) * Diogenes Pendergast (Preston-Child series of novels) * Dexter Morgan (Dexter series of novels) ''is a self-proclaimed sociopath * In the BBC drama ''Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes is labelled a psychopath, to which he replies, "I am a high-functioning sociopath." His nemesis, James Moriarty, on the other hand, is a clear-cut example of a psychopath and proudly admits it. Real World * Eric Harris * Jeffrey Dahmer * Charles Manson * Ted Bundy * John Wayne Gacy * Henry Lee Lucas * Edmund Kemper * Richard Ramirez * Dennis Rader * Gary Ridgway * Donald Trump is often cited as a possible example of a non-criminal psychopath, though like Ridgway, this is not confirmed Notes *Some psychopaths, while appearing outwardly evil and violent, may adhere to a moral code that prevents them from harming a particular demographic. Frank Breitkopf, for example, while being a merciless killer, would never harm children. Even though he kidnapped a group of school children, he made every effort to ensure their safe return. When he explained the situation to Jason Gideon concerning the busload of children, he told him that he would never harm them. Jason believed him, as he knew Frank had no reason or desire to harm them, only to use them as an escape route. However, Frank says this because he gets no sexual gratification out of harming children, not because he cares about their well-being. Harming them, further, would likely have jeopardized his escape and his life on the run now that the FBI knew his identity. *George Foyet is a sociopath who displays the worst of the common traits of these individuals. He feeds off of his victims fears, and does everything in his power to impart absolute terror in his victims before he kills them. He also wants to ensure that they know he is going to kill them; an example of the narcissistic side of this disorder, and if unable to (such as the victim being unconscious) will leave a bullet beside them showing that he could have. Further Reading * Wikipedia's article on psychopathy * Understanding the Psychopath Category:Mental Illness